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 Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 5:22 pm
Beth had made it her mission to find Brian whenever he came back to base. She knew it made her clingy, it made her desperate, but nothing seemed as right and solid as when she knew he was there. With Misha off with others in town, an attempt to be useful despite her circumstances, the Hera Chosen was in need of some company. How she had missed him and Lex walking into the camp with a crocodile slung over her their shoulders, she wasn't sure. Maybe she herself had been in town at that point. Either way, after hearing from Lex that Brian was back, she sought him out. In spite of where he was and any others who might have been around, she threw her arms around him and held on for a few moments more than she might have normally, just this side of awkward. Then she said, "Are you okay? Crocodiles get really big!" She paused, realizing the breathless non-sequitur, but rushed past it. "Lex told me where you were. You didn't get hurt, did you?" She stared up at him, eyes wide and only slightly terrified. WC: 190
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 6:03 pm
Brian had come back from the croc-battle reasonably shaken. He had been rash and it had worked, but he was shaken. Adrenaline worked for battle but with down-time it made you just a bit jittery. Brian had never even met such a large, dangerous reptile before and he had just sort of jumped on it and hoped for the best. Zeus had protected him, but what if his arm had ended up in its mouth? Could Zeus protect you from dismemberment?
As such, when Beth wrapped her arms around Brian, he tensed and straightened. It was only momentary, though, as he recognized who it was. He smiled slightly then and patted Beth's hand. Most hugs were awkward for him, but Beth was allowed to cling as long as she liked. He knew this wasn't easy for her.
"I'm fine," he said, "I feel like I may have unnecessarily risked my life, but I'm fine." He laughed slightly. "We were able to--" He turned down and saw Beth's face. Oh no. She looked so frightened! He offered her a larger smile. "--get it back here. Are you alright?"
(201)
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 7:16 pm
Beth held on, even as she felt him tense, her need to reassure herself of his safety and him of her affection overshadowing any fear of being awkward. She felt his hand on hers and flipped her hand to squeeze back. He had returned, he was whole, and he grounded her as he always did. Slowly, she pulled away as he attempted to comfort her, but remained as far within his personal bubble as she dared. Her brows drew together as he mentioned risking his life unnecessarily. "I'm fine, I wasn't out there fighting monsters!" She winced as she reconsidered her words. "Well, monsters that used to be people." She sighed. "I've mostly been wondering how we can save them. Have you been around Misha? She seems to be completely in control right now. But she's still a cat, she can't talk. And I know she's ashamed of what she did when she was...freaked out, but...aren't they all like that? Don't they deserve what we gave Misha?" The words were flowing, a river it took an effort to stop. "I'm sorry. I've had a lot of time to sit with my thoughts." No one was ever really a fan when she got like that. But Brian listened to her. Brian could help her get her head back on straight. WC: 219, Total: 409
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 4:38 pm
The little touch was welcome, and when Beth remained hovering closely, Brian was unconcerned. She had a special kind of permission to violate his personal bubble, not that it didn't shrink when the Chosen got into something dangerous.
"Yeah, I saw Misha before I headed out," he said, "and as far as I can tell, they're all sort of... not themselves. I don't think if I was of sound mind I'd end up attacking people I knew were my..." Brethren? Peers? "Well. Other Chosen." As far as he could tell, nobody had found Griffin yet. He didn't imagine that anyone wanted to approach that whole effort alone.
"I'd definitely like to help as many of them as possible, but I don't like that you have to fight back at first. It makes me feel awful." Nevermind the fact that he had accidentally murdered two raccoons out of three. They, at least, didn't seem to be Chosen. "Is everything okay here?" He had only been back every so often, but she had come to find him each time. She seemed nervous still, but he couldn't really blame her after that fight with Misha the Cat.
(410)
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 7:06 pm
Of course he didn't want to fight them. Of course hurting them weighed on him, just as it did on her. She supposed that he saw more of that than she did. Just the thought of having to attack a crazed animal that was still a person made her heart clench. Bringing herself to do it was almost unthinkable. But she had, hadn't she? She'd hurt Misha and depending on the type of creature attacking, she couldn't say what she would or wouldn't do. Facing Olivia or Griffin would surely end in tears if she couldn't bring herself to act. She crossed her arms, more of a hug than an expression of displeasure, distractedly rubbing her forearms with her hands. "They're probably all scared." She said, almost to herself. "And it's not like it's their fault! It's this curse or enchantment or whatever it is. And the longer they're like this, the more likely it is that the swamp will kill them. Or they'll kill each other." She had talked herself into distress and shuddered at the thought. The question seemed to shake her out of it, though, as she was called to evaluate the situation. "Um..." She looked around as if their surroundings would help her answer the question. "Well, we've been doing okay, I guess. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we're tired and hungry. But no one else has turned, that I know of, and we keep bringing in more of the transformed, so I guess that's good. Some of us keep traipsing into town to see what those teens know but...I can't help but feel that it's a waste of time." Her conviction had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they insulted her clothing, not at all. WC: 297, Total: 706
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 7:30 pm
Brian nodded. He'd be scared. Hell, there was a little part of him deep down inside that still curled up and panicked every time something horrible went down. Of course its tears were adrenaline and helped him along, but that was beside the point.
"Hey, I haven't seen one of them attack another." Not yet, anyway. He imagined that it was possible but he wasn't about to share those thoughts with Beth. His request for an update at least seemed to distract her for a moment. Head into town? Maybe he'd have to do that himself. Mal had said something about a tea shop and crystals...
"I think 'hungry' is for the better at this point," he said, "Have you left camp yourself? Gone into town?" At least that didn't involve fighting with anyone.
(553)
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 8:13 pm
Beth nodded before thinking that Brian might not approve of her striking out on her own. But it was too late to try modifying her behavior. "I've been a couple of times." She admitted carefully. "Mostly to talk to the 'witches' everyone saw at the bar. They're not that hard to spot. But extremely rude. I don't know if they actually know anything or if they're just...being teenagers." For once, she had the haughty air someone might expect from someone raised as she was. It was not a very convincing picture with her outfit completely spattered with mud, but the arch tone and tilted chin gave some weight to it. "I haven't been out to catch anyone. I'm not a com--" She caught herself before she said it again, and smiled sheepishly at Brian. "It's hard to motivate myself to go out and hurt these poor people."WC: 148, Total: 854
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 5:21 pm
Oh, good. Brian didn't particularly feel like everyone needed to be doing something when there were animals all over to keep an eye on. Not everyone wanted to go into combat, and that was fine. There were all types here. He'd learned that quickly. he wasn't sure, then, why Beth seemed hesitant to say that she'd gone out.
"I haven't seen any of them yet. I'm glad people are feeling them out, though," he said. He was probably of more use in combat, really. He wasn't sure if Cop Mode would work on teenagers over which he had no authority.
A half-smile quirked up the corner of his mouth at her skipped word, though. "Commoner? Communist. Complete barbarian?" He was only teasing, but he knew that Beth had a tendency to nervous-talk, or at least she had initially. He didn't want to get too serious and bring her down.
"You don't have to go on the offensive, you know," he offered, only because Beth seemed a bit down on herself about her abilities, "Defense is just as important."
(745)
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 8:28 pm
Beth tilted her head, scanning Brian from head to toe. "Maybe you could make some headway with them. Interrogate them or something, Officer Friendly. Do you still have your handcuffs? I'm sure you could scare some respect into them." Her tone was light and teasing, more of the tension leaking from her posture with the words. "I like to believe I'm none of those things, Brian." She gave what would have been an admirable hair flip except she had pulled her hair into a low bun to keep the effects of the humidity at bay. Her hand passed through empty air and she looked vaguely upset that being robbed of the joking suaveness of the moment. His suggestion of defending gave her pause for thought. "What's a whip supposed to do for defense? I don't have a shield like Misha." Not that Misha had a shield like Misha at the moment. All she had were claws and her feline charm. Which were, admittedly, serving her well. WC: 168, Total: 1,022
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 11:26 am
Brian chuckled and shook his head. "It could work, I guess. If only I had taken my uniform with me." He had no idea what had been going on outside the camp and the surrounding woods, however. He'd pretty much be going in blind.
"Hey, I'm not the one who stopped mid-sentence!" he teased. He imagined that Beth had actually meant to say something about "combat" but that was beyond the point. She seemed to be relaxing, and that was the least he could hope for.
He shrugged then. "Well, I imagine you don't have to actually hit things, do you? I imagine a lion tamer. Crack above their head, behind their back, get them to notice without hurting them, maybe?" Again, he had little to no knowledge of how whips actually worked.
(88 cool
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 5:00 pm
Beth still did not look convinced by his words, though her face turned contemplative. "I just don't want to accidentally hit them, you know? I can barely control this thing, I don't know what it would be like if I had to accidentally miss. Can I be a cheerleader? Is there a squad position for that? I might remember some formations." She laughed again, another joke she hadn't expected to make. And not one that was born of stress, necessarily. "Though I guess I'm not...opposed to the idea of going out there, I just don't want to hurt anyone. I mean, I think what we did with Misha was amazing and the best scenario, all things considered, but I don't think we could do it again with someone we didn't even know. It probably only worked with her because we're her friends."WC: 142, Total: 1,164
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 5:13 pm
"Honestly, it seems like they're still protected to some point," Brian said. Misha had fought against them for quite some time and she had been more exhausted than wounded. "Hitting them won't hurt them much, I don't think. Misha only had that little scrape, and I'm not totally convinced that that was our doing either."
He thought for a moment there. "Well, there is a band, but they still have to go through basic..."
He gave Beth a little nudge then. "Why don't we go out together? You can get some practice defending and maybe we can find another Chosen to bring back to camp."
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 5:35 pm
"There are regular people out there too. Non-Chosen went missing as well, from what I heard. Do they have the same kind of protection that we do? They still need to be rounded up. If anything, I feel like it's almost more important to find them than the other Chosen. At least we know that their gods will protect them at least." Beth was suddenly overcome with the notion that it was terribly unfair for their gods to extend protection to them, but not to the run of the mill, average Joe. She frowned, but was warming up to the idea ever so slowly. With Brian there, she had nothing to fear. She sighed. "I suppose we could. But you need to be careful too!" She thrust her finger out to poke him in the chest, imperious look on her face. Her serious expression probably made for a comical picture. WC: 150, Total: 1314
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 5:40 pm
"From what I heard, yeah. More than a dozen," Brian said. He wished that they were the only people to be affected by these events, but he imagined that they'd have no purpose then. They had to save people from the supernatural. They had to save... little bits of the world.
"Okay. We'll find someone who doesn't fit in," he said. He stood and offered Beth his hand. "Come on."
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